Thursday, July 24, 2014

Making Local Justice

Mark and his wife Diane, a homeless couple, has just been
forced to move from the camp that they had peacefully dwelt in for years. They have nowhere to go. A summer storm blew through Portland the last
couple days and because they had nowhere to legally set up their tent, they
were soaked the other night, hiding for cover, and now they have no dry
blankets or clothes.

They came into our church’s
day shelter yesterday freezing. We were
able to give them a warm meal and a change of clothes and some dry bedding… but
Mark’s question lingered. He said, “I’ve
been praying. I’ve been seeking God for
help. Why won’t he help us?”

Honestly, I gave some pious answer about waiting and God’s
timing isn’t our timing. But I wasn’t
really being honest to him. I woke up at
6 this morning with his question haunting me.
I couldn’t get any more sleep, so I want to be honest with you today:

The reason Mark isn’t being helped by God is because God has
already given the power to help him to His people, the church, and the church
isn’t interested.

It isn’t that the church isn’t interested in justice. But they would rather take sides in the Israel/Gaza
conflict rather than be there for their neighbor who lives in their
community. Which is odd to me, because
it seems that the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that we are to
show mercy to the one whom we come across, not write a blog post for them, nor
re-post a video that touched us about justice.
Justice isn’t about making a public position, but about creating a
context where people are free to live.

I’ve been reading Walter Breuggermann’s book Peace the past
couple weeks, and in that brilliant short book he makes the point that there is
a difference between order and justice.
Order is what Pharaoh had, with his slavery and his taskmasters. God had to reach in and make chaos of that
order so that He might establish justice.
Order is what we have in our cities, and the city councils keep order by
creating laws and policies that move the homeless out of people’s sight, that
fundamentally make it illegal for those human beings to exist. The police, many of whom believe the homeless
to be naturally criminals, will move them on, dehumanize them, take their
possessions, and even arrest them for the crime of being unable to pay rent.

The church of the United States can stop this. We will be judged, not by how we respond to justice issues overseas, but by how we create justice in our neighborhoods. We can create justice for the homeless in
their communities. Here are some simple
steps. Not all the steps are easy, mind
you, but creating justice never is.

1. Get to know the
homeless
We can never help create justice if we do not know those whom we seek justice
for. You can go to a day shelter like
what my church, Anawim Christian Community, has. There are shelters like this where the
homeless can exist without harassment in almost every major city of the United
States. Go and listen. You can volunteer, or help, if you like. But your primary goal is to listen to the
homeless and find out about their lives.
What are their struggles, what are their joys, what are their hopes and
what keeps them from obtaining their hope?
As we talk with the homeless we will find out that, just like housed
people, a few may be criminals, but most are not. We will find out that we really enjoy
spending time with some of these folks.
We will find out who can be trusted and who can’t be. And we will find out the policies and habits
of our city that make their lives miserable.

2. Write letters
Find out what laws have been passed in your community that the law enforcers use
to oppress the homeless in your area. In
Portland, there is a camping ordinance that makes it illegal for anyone to
sleep outside. While it could be used
against children pitching a tent in their backyard, the lawmakers intended to
use it against the homeless, and so “sweeps” regularly happen where the police
tell the homeless that they have to move.
There is nowhere for them to move to.
Some police in Portland will tell the homeless to move out of their city
and never return—the city they were raised in. If a number of people wrote letters to their
city council demanding that the homeless be treated like the citizens they are,
instead of piles of garbage that need to be cleaned up, the city would change
their policies. If people wrote to the
local newspaper demanding that the homeless not be harassed by the police, then
lawmakers and the police will listen.
But it will take a lot of people, over time, doing this.

3. Provide jobs
Most of the homeless want to work. But
getting a job without an address, or a shower is almost impossible. Going to an interview when the stress of
everyday life makes one desperate and anxious and so an unlikely candidate for
hiring. Our church hires the homeless to
care for our landscaping and to do our janitorial work. Some folks might need some supervision or training,
but they are grateful for the work, learn fast and work hard. Often churches see the homeless as objects of
charity rather than people who need a chance.
Instead of hiring a company to maintain your property, go the extra mile
and hire some homeless folks.

4. Offer housing
When Jesus spoke of helping the homeless, he didn’t talk about giving them a
dollar, but inviting them into our home. Me and my family of five live in a six
bedroom house. We specifically purchased
this house so that we could take our extra rooms and welcome the homeless to
live with us. We have had as many as
eleven folks live with us. I am not
suggesting that everyone who reads this take so many people in, but many of us
have extra room where we could take someone in.
I would suggest not bringing in a stranger, but someone you learn to
know and trust at a shelter. Because what
the homeless really need is an opportunity

5. Create a Network of Churches
Most of our churches are small and have little finances or resources. But groups of churches are able to do what an
individual church cannot. A group of
churches can establish a day shelter in areas of town where the homeless
population isn’t being served. A group
of churches can establish a regular meal for the local poor to eat. A group of churches can collectively go to
the city council and request that they no longer harass the homeless, to stop
treating them all as if they were criminals and not citizens. A group of churches can listen to the
homeless, find out their needs and help them with the resources they have
collectively. In one area of town, we
listened to the homeless and provided a winter shelter. In another area of town they didn’t want a
winter shelter, but propane stoves to keep warm in their tents. Our church networks were able to provide
these services.

6. Support your local ministries
If you live in a city in the United States, there are local ministries to the
homeless in your area. Some of these
ministries are being attacked by local laws to prevent them from bringing
justice to the homeless. Other
ministries are attacked by neighborhood associations or local neighbors who
assume that they are “brining criminals into our neighborhood.” Anawim stands strong for the homeless every
day, but we are attacked and we struggle with too little to go on. Go to your local ministry and find out what
they need. Almost certainly they need
financial help (we struggle to pay our rent every month). But they may need more volunteers or more
donations. They may need some
encouragement. They may need someone to
stand up for them against those who complain about them in neighborhood meetings.

7. Tell Stories about your Homeless Friends
As you learn about the lives of the homeless, tell people about their
stories. Not just the bad things or the
oppression they face, but talk about their everyday triumphs. Post stories on
FB, talk about them at neighborhood meetings.
The homeless are our local citizens and their victories are our
victories. If they get a job, if they
were able to get their identification that has been lost for years, if they
were able to obtain housing, if they were able to get a medical problem
resolved, talk about it. Let your
friends and your neighbors know that homeless people are good people. That
they are your friends. And that they are
deserving of love.

If you'd like to know more about Anawim Christian Community, a community church for the homeless in Portland and Gresham Oregon, what we do and how you could support us, go to www.NowhereToLayHisHead.org

1 comment:

Perhaps the main thing we need is a change of heart and attitude. Modern western societies are built on capitalism (at least in part, and in the US that is a big part). And capitalism means looking after yourself and getting ahead yourself (again in part).

Some of us christians have bought into that lie, even though Jesus taught quite the opposite. So if we have jobs and homes and food on the table, we like to think we deserve it and those other people never tried. And so some of us oppose universal healthcare and social security generally because we think if people would only work they would have these things without the government looking after them. We forget that the structures of society are often unjust and unequal, and "there but for the grace of God go I".

We need humility, compassion and realistic awareness, which Jesus can give us.

Anawim Christian Community

About Me

I'm a pastor of the homeless and mentally ill, and as such I find I am getting more mentally ill every day. I am also a theologian/philosopher, and I am a film butt... I mean buff. Oh, and I take pictures with a cheap digital camera-- that makes me one step lower than an amateur photographer.